Well where do I start, we covered so much in 8 hours and listen to a huge variety of music.
Firstly, Rob’s facilities are superb, A large open area supporting small and large AV and 2 channel systems and a further acoustically designed room. These make any other dem room that I’ve visited come off a poor second and are ideal for demonstrating big home cinema for wealthy clients.
Initially we set up my system in one part of the open area to get a feel for the sound and for Rob to get his first Shahinian experience! Sources were a CD-1 and a Squeezebox, it was a typical Shahinian sound, big sound, wide and tall, good bass but poor imaging (the latter being a trait of Omnidirectional speakers). Various music was played from heavy rock to ethnic drummers. Rob described it as – very musical and not hi-fi, which I shall definitely take as a complement.
Next we moved into Rob’s acoustic room, set up were a Lyngdorf TDAI-2200 (room corrected) with slave SDA-2175 driving MK satellite speakers (one tweeter, dual midrange) and a pair of MK subs, a 2+2 system. This produced a very full sound with superb imaging. Track after track was played, again a very musical system, A slightly brighter sound than the Shahinians, but produced some good well controlled low bass. Not as tolerant of less good quality recordings as my system, and this was shown up on Lights Out from Strangers In The Night by UFO when the guitar solo went very hard/edgy at the top end. At midnight we called it a day, to be resumed the following morning.
The next day came, after a decent nights sleep and an excellent fry-up, we were joined by Steve and Chrisk. Initially we put the Shahinians in the acoustic room in place of the MK satellite speakers, Rob recalibrated the Room Perfect system and off we went, what a great system, the subs integrated really well and produced some excellent low end bass and the very top hard sheen was removed by using the Shahinians and I felt that it produced a very natural sound. Interestingly the Shahinians started to image a bit better, now whether that was a function of the room or RoomPerfect or both I don’t know but it was a great sounding system.
Then we removed the subs and slave amplifier, Rob recalibrated again and we ran just the Shahinians with the TDA-1. Initially this sounded good, but when we played a track with a lot of low bass (My Man from Santana’s All That I Am featuring Mary J Bilge and Big Boi) the sound just fell apart. I suspect that this was caused by the fact the Shahinians are very hard to drive and just at that point in the music required serious power (current)
We then went back to MK Subs and Sats system, played the track again and all was well. The low bass was resolved really well.
A break for lunch, after which I broke my back for the second time by moving my Meridian monoliths into Robs acoustic room and setting up my system in his room, to give me a reference point. All I can say is wow! The room made a huge difference, my system sounded really great, and as before even imaged a bit, played a handful of tracks which Steve really enjoyed. It was shame that Chris missed this as it would have really shown what Shahinians were capable of on their own.
Now whether this system was better than the Shahinians + Subs being driven by Lyngdorf, I couldn’t say, I felt (very personal view) that the Shahinian Subs produced some much lower bass, but whether it made listening to the music more enjoyable is the big question. I’d be very happy with either system.
In the meantime Rob set up the next level up Lyngdorf system where I had originally set up my system. Comprising of a CD-1, TDAI-2200, Millenium Amp, some BW210 subs and a pair of DP-1 speakers, again a 2+2 system. These open baffle speakers were certainly an eye opener, this was definitely a step up from the boxed MKs, the sound was very open, big and wide with great imaging. It sounded much better in that space than my system had done. This system has a much sweeter treble than the MK system and was another system that I could very happily live with.
During the course of listing to these systems e played an amazing amount of music from all sorts of genres, and all the systems produced great music, which is really what it is all about. I could have quite happily listened away for many more hours
My conclusions are:-
1) The 2+2 concept really works and works well.
2) My system works really well in a good room
3) The Lyngdorf system with Room Perfect works very well in non-perfect rooms
4) The DAC section in the TADI-2200 was really good and to my ears made no difference whether we were using the CD-1 or the Squeezebox.
If I was starting from scratch, the Lyngdorf kit would have to be on my radar, and the sub/sat arrangement is probably a lot more wife friendly than some monolithic speakers sat out into the room. Equally if I had a system with small speakers and I wanted a fully range sound, then it should be considered as well.
Starting from where I am (and in love with my Shahinians), I like my system, appreciate it strengths (and know it’s weaknesses).
Finally Rob had a couple of treats in store for us, firstly a top of the range Steinway system (six figure price tag), this produced massive sound but was capable of being amazingly delicate. A piece that Chris brought with a solo double bass was just stunning and created a very believable realism to the music and the instruments.
And last but not least, we were treated to The Attack on Pearl Harbour from the film Pearl Harbour. This was better than any cinema that I’ve been too, the dynamics were amazing and it certainly re-arranged my internal organs. A great system for a dedicated cinema room but probably not one that you would want in your living room for everyday use!
I must thank Rob for his hospitality and spending the time connecting kit, recalibrating, making tea and providing food (and in my case accommodation).
Music Played (on multiple systems included):-
My Man – Santana featuring Mary J Bilge and Big Boi
Since I’ve Been Loving You – Led Zeppelin
Another Brick In The Wall Part1/The Happiest Days Of Our Lives – Pink Floyd Where Do You Think You’re Going – Dire Straits
Burn – Deep Purple)
Soldier Of Fortune – Whitesnake (Starkers in Toyko)
James And The Cold Gun - Kate Bush
Papa Was A Rolling Stone – The Temptations
Nine Million Bicycles – Katie Melua
The Ballard Of Billy Jo Mackay – Shawn Mullins
Lights Out (live) - UFO
School (live) – Supertramp
And much much more!